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"... Can not I do with you like this potter, house of Israel ?, says Jehovah. Like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in my hands, house of Israel ... "
(Jeremiah 18: 7)

God is sovereign and exercises supreme authority with total independence. Sometimes we read the Bible in segments, as if it were the stories of the vicissitudes of many men, their triumphs and their defeats. However, the Bible is the story of God, it is a window to know the One, Sovereign, Eternal and Glorious God. Everything that is contained in it tells us about the extraordinary personality of our Creator.

Behind every man is the hand of God and His eternal purpose. When we think of the "hand of God," let us remember that Isaiah records that God measured all the waters in the hollow of his hand, and with his span took the measure of the heavens (Is.40: 12).

Each day we are molded by the most exalted hands that can exist, which undoubtedly are those of our Creator, who works in our hearts with experiences and situations that have eternal purposes.

We do not necessarily have to understand everything that happens to us. The old man wants to understand everything that happens to him, but when our mind is renewed, we know that our thoughts are not the same thoughts of God:

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts more than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55: 9)

Paul went through many difficult situations, which from a human perspective could be classified as "cruel" and even "inhuman". Perhaps, in the face of these afflictions, any person would have claimed God, but we have the example of Paul who was imprisoned, flogged, shipwrecked, stoned and persecuted, however, a fact always kept him firm in his purpose of proclaiming the gospel.
Paul had had a personal encounter with Jesus (Acts 9: 3-6), and this fact would change diametrically his outlook on life and his goals.

What was Paul's attitude towards the calamities he lived?

Strong winds lashed the ship that directed them to Rome, and before it was shipwrecked, Paul exhorted them to have courage, trusting that even in the middle of that immense storm, God would be with them (Acts 2:22).

A prayer that should continually be in our mouth is to ask the Holy Spirit to open our understanding, so that we can understand that behind all the situations we live, God is working in us.

Just as a potter works with confidence with clay, God works patiently with us every day. We are like clay in the hands of the Potter.

Paul realized that many could claim God's circumstances, wanting to make God "unjust"; However, Paul responds to these demands:

But before, oh man, who are you, so that you may alter with God? Will the earthen vessel say to the one who formed it: Why have you made me like this? (Ro 9:20)

We are compared with a step of mud, because we are in the hands of God. This understanding should cause us immense rejoicing, regardless of the afflictions of the present time. Remember that even in the turbulence, God is with us. Paul was always animated in the midst of the storms because he knew who His strong shield was and the strength of his heart.

Day by day, God works in us like a potter with clay, even if we do not understand every situation, let's do like Paul, let's get rid of the sin and the weight that besets us, running with patience the race that lies before us, and let's put our eyes in Jesus, the author and finisher of the faith (Hebrews 12: 1-2).